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I may be beyond redemption

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Re: I may be beyond redemption

#31

Post by yawpitch »

hollerith wrote: post #28
yawpitch wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re only surprised because you haven’t spent enough time watching pigeons. They’re beautiful birds, many past societies literally worshipped them, and they saved a lot of butts in both World Wars. They’ve fallen from grace because 20th century plus humans don’t like what survives and thrives wild in their cities, especially when they associate them with dirt and garbage the humans leave everywhere .

I've spent plenty of time around pigeons. They've nested a few times within 20 of feet of my apartment. If I don't use adequate protective equipment while cleaning the pigeon shit from my patio, I can be infected with an organism in the shit, namely, Histoplasma capsulatum, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus, Chlamydophila psittaci, Salmonella bacteria, Escherichia coli, Mycobacterium avium complex, Liste…

Most of those you have any realistic chance of catching from a wild bird you can also get — and are vastly more likely to get during your lifetime — via the fecal-oral route from another human. Indeed many of those are only a risk at all with pigeons because they live near humans who expose them to filth they’d never encounter in the wild.

Oh, and several of those you can’t get at all from a pigeon’s poop, they require an intervening, blood-feeding arthropod.

Re: I may be beyond redemption

#32

Post by hollerith »

yawpitch wrote: post #31
hollerith wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've spent plenty of time around pigeons. They've nested a few times within 20 of feet of my apartment. If I don't use adequate protective equipment while cleaning the pigeon shit from my patio, I can be infected with an organism in the shit, namely, Histoplasma capsulatum, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus, Chlamydophila psittaci, Salmonella bacteria, Escherichia coli, Mycobacterium avium complex, Liste…

Most of those you have any realistic chance of catching from a wild bird you can also get — and are vastly more likely to get during your lifetime — via the fecal-oral route from another human. Indeed many of those are only a risk at all with pigeons because they live near humans who expose them to filth they’d never encounter in the wild. Oh, and several of those you can’t get at all from a pigeon’s poop, they requi…

>several of those you can’t get at all from a pigeon’s poop, they require an intervening, blood-feeding arthropod.

"A mosquito is needed to transfer the virus from the pigeon to me," is not a great defense of pigeons because of how common mosquitoes are and how hard it is to get rid of them.

Re: I may be beyond redemption

#33

Post by yawpitch »

hollerith wrote: post #32
yawpitch wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of those you have any realistic chance of catching from a wild bird you can also get — and are vastly more likely to get during your lifetime — via the fecal-oral route from another human. Indeed many of those are only a risk at all with pigeons because they live near humans who expose them to filth they’d never encounter in the wild. Oh, and several of those you can’t get at all from a pigeon’s poop, they requi…

>several of those you can’t get at all from a pigeon’s poop, they require an intervening, blood-feeding arthropod. "A mosquito is needed to transfer the virus from the pigeon to me," is not a great defense of pigeons because of how common mosquitoes are and how hard it is to get rid of them.

Sure, mosquitoes have, historically, earned your ire, but now you’re blaming the pigeon, again, for a disease you’re just as or more likely to get from another, very likely human, source.

Which is especially true when you realize that most mosquito species that have adapted to blood feed off avians don’t also tend to blood feed off mammals.

And, not for nothing, but what I was refuting was the idea you needed safety gear around pigeon poop to defend you from blood-borne viruses that aren’t known to transfer via that poop.

Re: I may be beyond redemption

#34

Post by justanything »

ecoled_ame wrote: post #22

How old are you? I am 34 and was recently reading my journals from college when I was ~21. I was continually lamenting my laziness and lack of direction, filled with worry too. I had high aspirations but no clue how to get there. Proceed to 10 years of absolute failure but learning the value of a determination to persist. Now happy with a mid-level job that I worked so hard to get, nowhere near the PhD or MBA friends…

I am working on the determination aspect but it is so slow and frustrating, plus any time I am learning, I get flashbacks of my own failures and also thoughts of how everyone else is so much ahead.

Re: I may be beyond redemption

#35

Post by tomhow »

sinenomine wrote: post #17
justanything wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do owe my parents, firstly because I am adopted and secondly, they went above and beyond for me in every way they could. Thank you for the kind words, I appreciate them. I am trying small daily improvements now, for the millionth time. But the fear and the guilt is overwhelming, and I am never gonna catch up to other normal people, much less high earners. And then there is AI.

[flagged]

Comments that assert that genetic inheritance determines life outcomes are not what we want on HN. It has very ugly implications that I don't need to spell out. And it's personal for me because I, and others I know and love, have put a lot of work over many years into overcoming inner obstacles that were said by "experts" to be "hard-wired" traits.

We want HN to be a place for talking about expanding people's possibilities, not limiting them.

Re: I may be beyond redemption

#37

Post by justanything »

tomhow wrote: post #35
sinenomine wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Comments that assert that genetic inheritance determines life outcomes are not what we want on HN. It has very ugly implications that I don't need to spell out. And it's personal for me because I, and others I know and love, have put a lot of work over many years into overcoming inner obstacles that were said by "experts" to be "hard-wired" traits. We want HN to be a place for talking about expanding people's possibi…

How did you do that? how did you overcome "hard-wired" traits?

Re: I may be beyond redemption

#38

Post by tomhow »

justanything wrote: post #37
tomhow wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comments that assert that genetic inheritance determines life outcomes are not what we want on HN. It has very ugly implications that I don't need to spell out. And it's personal for me because I, and others I know and love, have put a lot of work over many years into overcoming inner obstacles that were said by "experts" to be "hard-wired" traits. We want HN to be a place for talking about expanding people's possibi…

How did you do that? how did you overcome "hard-wired" traits?

The point is that much of what is generally considered to be "hard wired" is not as immutable as we think. There are many different ways to improve our circumstances and options. I've explored several with good results, and seen others apply different ones with good results.

Given my role here is a moderator, It's not appropriate for me to be giving out health/life advice, and it's always the case that professional mental health treatment should be sought if there's risk of self-harm. But you're welcome to email us at hn@ycombinator.com if you think we may be able to help point you in the right direction.

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